Ypres

The city of Ypres, strengthened by Vauban, entirely destroyed at the time of
the First World War, then rebuilt identically, is a masterpiece of architectural
work, with the Town square and the well known “Halle aux Draps”
surrounded by many pilot buildings of the medieval inheritance of the city.

The front building of the Cloth Hall is 125 m. long and the first floor can
be visited via the In Flanders Fields Museum. In the west end side wing you
can find today the Town Hall where, in the middle, the belfry tower rises 70
m. high. The present spire with its helmet and dragon (1692) is an exact copy
of the pre-war spire.

Ypres is also a town of memory with many museums and memorials of the First
World War. It is there that in 1917 the mustard gas was used for the first time
to which was given the name of Yperite.